With
more than four decades of working with clay, Tom Radca
has made a lot of pots. This 65-year old ceramic artist virtually
buzzes with enthusiasm about his work. The history of his years as a
potter is a virtual creative evolution, as he continues to transform
his inspiration and techniques. There are no signs of complacency or
burnout in this man who is opening a new door with the founding of
his Radca Ranch School of Ceramics on the family
farm outside the rural village of Port Washington, Ohio.

Radca explains his motivation: “I don’t care how successful one of
my series is. When I’m tired of it, I’m done with it.” This
willingness to move forward to wherever his creative impulses take
him drives the diversity of his work. He credits many mentors along
his way with guiding him, but it is his openness to what presents
itself that yields his vast creative output.

Radca’s start in ceramics improbably can be traced to the United
States Air Force. As an uninspired high school student during the
Vietnam era, Radca knew his fate would likely take him to the
battlefield. In 1969, he enlisted in the Air Force, a move that
landed him in Wichita, Kansas working as a jet mechanic for four
years. During
his
service, he enrolled in Kansas State and found that he loved
college. He took pottery classes under Angelo Garzio and began to
master the techniques of functional pottery making. When he left the
military, he returned home to Columbus as a working potter. He
recalls, “I lived four blocks south of Ohio State. I started taking
workshops – clay happenings. Taking workshops is a major part of
what happened to me in clay.” In the workshops, he developed
friendships with many of the Ohio State art students. Through them,
he became aware of ceramic artist and educator Norm Schullman.

Radca says, “By this time, I had been making functional pots for
seven years. I thought I had found my niche. I made so many cups it
was crazy!” Radca gathered up an armful of pots and marched
uninvited into Schullman’s studio, asking to be his student. He was
able to arrange special instruction with Schullman in Ohio for two
semesters, earning enough credit to complete his degree from Kansas
State, with a declared major in Horticulture Industries – a major
that was acceptable for the financial help through the GI bill. “I’m
thankful for the GI bill,” he says.

Radca’s work with Schullman changed his outlook. “Norm always said,
‘Work big, but work smart,’” Radca recalls. Radca moved from small
functional vessels to large, gas-fired pieces with distinctive glaze
patterns. “Norm gave me a glaze and told me to play with it,” Radca
explains. “He said to have fun. I used that same glaze for the next
seven years.” In what he describes as a “Maalox moment,” Radca
accidentally over-fired
some pieces. The glaze that had produced a
matte finish was transformed into a glossy finish. Radca
experimented further with different cones, developing what was to
become his signature mode of expression.

He explored with the glaze on a series of large plates. “One day,”
he says,” I had a happy accident. One of the kiln’s shelf supports
slipped during the firing, creating a flowing pattern on the plates.
I liked what I saw – I always had wanted to be a glass blower! – and
set up three different sized plates at an angle in the kiln so that
the glaze would flow from one to the other, and finally into a
special little bowl I made. That was a very successful series.”

Radca is currently working on ceramic tiles. He credits Jack
Beauchamp, from Salt of the Earth Pottery in Kimbolton, Ohio, with
inspiring this turn in his creativity. “I was always trying to make
my plates flatter and flatter,” he says. “I was at an arts fair and
Jack came into my booth and suggested that I just make tiles!”
Always the experimenter, Radca developed a systematic way to make
tiles by slicing them from the bottom of a compressed block of clay.
“I was getting a lot of S-cracks, and Julie, at Standard, talked it
out with me, ultimately resulting in my technique of really slamming
a 25-pound block of clay on a waist-level surface supported by
cement blocks.” Radca keeps pressing the boundaries, making larger
and
larger tiles. In recent years, he has won commissions for public
art in the Columbus area. He and his assistant, Margit Stewart, have
created and overseen tile installations at Mercy Medical Center in
Canton and at the Hyatt Hotel plaza in Columbus.

Tiles will be the first focus of Radca’s new school this coming
summer. Radca’s mentor Schullman had always advised him to develop
his work first, before turning to teaching. It hasn’t been until the
past few years that Radca has felt ready to teach. A few years ago
he began to teach in workshops. He says, “I was teaching at a
ceramic place in Europe, where the students were farmed out to the
local houses near the school and I thought, ‘Gee. I should do
this!’” With his three children grown and gone from home, his family
tree farm
in rural Ohio seemed the ideal place. He and his new wife
of two years have carefully planned the new Radca Ranch School of
Ceramics, which will offer its first weeklong resident course this
July. They have converted the barn into a student residence, with
five bedrooms, a kitchen, and indoor baths. A beautiful pair of
outdoor showers will face the property’s 18,000-tree forest.
Students will cook themselves breakfast and dinner in the fully
equipped kitchen. Lunch will be provided during the workday. The
studio will be open 24 hours each day, encouraging the creative
impulse whenever it strikes. Radca has cleared a meandering pathway
through the pasture from the dormitory barn and has outfitted it
with solar lights to guide the restless student to the studio during
the night.

The school’s first season this summer will concentrate all its
courses on tiles and glazing. Students will range from beginners to
advanced. Radca says, “No one needs experience to make tiles.” He
will offer six one-week sessions, starting July 9, along with a fall
week in October.
Next year, during the summer of 2017, he plans to
focus on throwing and expects a more experienced student body. He is
optimistic about the school’s prospects for success. He points out
that the baby boomer generation is entering retirement and will
likely continue their quest for self-expanding experiences. He sees
his residential program as perfect for this demographic.

Radca’s plans include a Kickstarter campaign in the near future,
with various giving levels. He envisions rewarding donors with a
range of his talents: ceramic pieces for smaller gifts; a workshop
for a medium gift; a complete tile installation for a large gift; a
week-long immersive instructional course with his guidance on the
donor’s project for the highest level of giving. His enthusiastic
mind continues to take his creativity in new directions.